My Wild First Day Of School

Dennis Mathew, author of the award-winning "Bello the Cello" breaks the rules with his second book, "My WILD First Day of School." What if animals went to school? What if they could dream, wonder and imagine a hopeful future? Into the uncertainty that is the first day of school for every child, My WILD First Day of School throws humor, spunk, rhythm and rhyme. This book is an invitation to every child to take risks, try something new and embrace their inner "WILD".

From the author and illustrator of Our Class is a Family, this touching picture book expresses a teacher's sentiments and well wishes on the last day of school. Serving as a follow up to the letter in A Letter From Your Teacher: On the First Day of School, it's a read aloud for teachers to bid a special farewell to their students at the end of the school year. Through a letter written from the teacher's point of view, the class is invited to reflect back on memories made, connections formed, and challenges met. The letter expresses how proud their teacher is of them, and how much they will be missed. Students will also leave on that last day knowing that their teacher is cheering them on for all of the exciting things to come in the future. There is a blank space on the last page for teachers to sign their own name, so that students know that the letter in the book is coming straight from them. With its sincere message and inclusive illustrations, A Letter From Your Teacher: On the Last Day of School is a valuable addition to any elementary school teacher's classroom library.

From the authors who created the One Word movement, impacting schools, businesses, and sports teams around the world, comes a charming fable that can be read and shared by everyone. If you could choose only one word to help you have your best year ever, what would it be? Love? Fun? Believe? Brave? It’s prob­ably different for everyone. How you find your word is just as important as the word itself. And once you know your word, what do you do with it? In One Word for Kids, bestselling author Jon Gordon—along with coauthors Dan Britton and Jimmy Page—asks these questions to children and adults of all ages, teaching an important life lesson in the process. This engaging, fully illustrated fable follows Stevie, a young boy falling asleep on the first day of school. His teacher gives the class an assignment: to find the one word that will help them have their best year ever. To discover their one word, they must look inside themselves, look up, and look out. At home, Stevie is upset be­cause he can’t find his word. After his dad offers some helpful advice, Stevie excitedly begins the quest for his word. His search helps him discover a lot about himself, what he loves, and what is important to him. An easy read with a powerful message, One Word for Kids appeals to readers of all ages and is an ideal entry point into discussing a valuable lesson in a fun and engaging way.

What's my song? Will I fit in?These are the questions we find a young Cello named Bello asking himself as he tries to navigate the novelties of his first day at school. When inspiration from the magical sounds of his new classmates mixes with the encouragement and the gentle nudge of other whimsical characters, Bello arrives at the discovery of his gift, the magic of his song.

On a family camping trip, Olive meets Forest, a boy who has grown up in the wild. Olive's father agrees to let him move in, as long as Olive can teach him to behave properly before the family dinner with her fastidious Gam Gam. Olive only has one week to show him how to take a bath, eat off a plate, and sleep in a bed . . . but Forest doesn't even know the meaning of proper. He likes to hang out with the neighborhood birds and swing on chandeliers. It doesn't help that Olive's brother, Ryan, tries to convince Forest that football should be played inside! Forest's shenanigans and the black-and-white illustrations throughout will have both reluctant and avid readers laughing out loud.

The first member of Duran Duran to write his memoirs tells the full story of the excesses, glamour and excitement they lived through in the 1980s. When 19-year-old Andy Taylor returned from his band's tour of military bases in Germany and saw an advert in Melody Maker in April 1980 asking for a 'live wire guitarist' to audition in Birmingham, he saw his chance. Even he could not have predicted what happened next. The group, Duran Duran, released their first single, 'Planet Earth', ten months later and soon became the biggest band since the Beatles. Emerging in the post-punk era, Duran headed the New Romantic movement and with their stunning videos and style consciousness, they set the trend for the consumerist 1980s. Popular with everyone from rockers to Princess Diana, they had a string of massive worldwide hits such as 'Rio', 'The Reflex' and 'A View to a Kill'. They won Grammys and an Ivor Novello award among many other things. By Live Aid, in 1985, they were at their very pinnacle of success - and then the band began to fall apart. At the centre of it all, giving the group its musical pulse, was lead guitarist Andy Taylor. In this revealing and raw memoir, Taylor recalls the highs and lows of an unbelievable period where the squeaky clean facade hid the truth of wild partying as five young men took just about every opportunity that was offered to them. Andy Taylor's story is of an era when MTV was new, the media allowed superstars to get away with lots and rock stars knew how to party like there was no tomorrow. Wild Boy is a book that millions of fans of Duran Duran around the world will want to read to know the full story of what really happened.

'Luke Gamble is a West Country treasure. Like Dr Doolittle, but real!' MARTIN CLUNES Fresh out of university, vet Luke Gamble joined a mixed practice in Dorset, run by the stern but benevolent Mr Spotswode. He found himself quickly thrust into the real world of veterinary medicine: truculent farmers, out-of-hours-surgery, nasty biting squirrels, operating on frog's eyeballs and some of the harsher facts of farming life, like dealing with a tragic outbreak of foot and mouth. Luke dreams of setting up his own practice, and finding his place in the big wild world. These dreams, however, are never quite as straightforward as they may seem. In the first instalment of his memoir, the young vet not only learns much about his trade, but also learns a lot about himself, along the way developing a group of close friends, both animal and human. The most important of these is Cordelia - the woman of his dreams - and his quest to win her heart is a marathon. Warm-hearted, witty and full of weird and wonderful tales, The Vet is the perfect read for animal lovers.